City Related | City Ethics

Ethics Codes & Reform March 9, 2009

The State-Local Obstacle to Ethics Reform

One of the biggest obstacles to ethics reform in some U.S. states and Canadian provinces is the possibility of state enforcement of local ethics. For example, in Connecticut, there has been talk for years at the state level about either having state enforcement or state requirements. Even though it…

Conflicts of Interest March 4, 2009

Local Government Attorneys' Conflict re Conflicts

The most complicating (sic) part of conflicts of interest is the being interested part. When one is interested in something, not necessarily in a financial way, it can be very hard to get the emotional distance necessary to analyze a conflict properly. In other words, it's hard for many people to a…

Conflicts of Interest March 1, 2009

Labor Peace Through Unethical Conduct

Rarely does an ethics commission get a clear chance to show it has no favoritism. The Nevada Commission on Ethics will soon get that chance. The Nevada senator who raised a legislative immunity defense last year against the commission was accused of a conflict of interest due to his position as pre…

February 28, 2009

A Miscellany

On the legislative immunity front, according to an article in the Providence Journal, a date has been set for the Rhode Island Supreme Court to hear the appeal by the Rhode Island Ethics Commission of the decision upholding the old constitutional legislative immunity clause against a more recent co…

Ethics Codes & Reform February 27, 2009

The Three Lies of Government Ethics

Everyone knows the three lies jokes. Every topic has its three lies, and the third one is the punch line. Unfortunately, in government ethics there aren't any punch lines, but there are lies, or at least common rhetoric that isn't true, what I will refer to as "untruths." Those who believe in effec…

Ethics Commissions & Administration February 26, 2009

The Worthlessness of Toothless Ethics Commissions

There's a lot of talk among government ethics practitioners about how important it is for ethics commissions to have teeth, that is, the ability to at least reprimand and fine government officials for ethics violations. Requiring council approval of ethics recommendations brings elected officials i…

Ethics Codes & Reform February 25, 2009

Process vs. Substance

The conclusion of an op-ed column in today's Sarasota Herald-Tribune about the mess in Venice that I wrote about yesterday made me realize that I had not yet written about one of the most important problems in government ethics: process vs. substance. A quick recap: this evening, the Venice counci…

February 24, 2009

The Conflicts in Upcoming Venice (FL) Council Vote on Settlement of Suit Against Its Members

Update below Recently, I wrote a bit about the odd Venice, FL ethics program, which puts the city manager completely in charge. Now Venice is making news with respect to open government issues, and this has led to a very interesting conflict of interest issue. According to an article in Friday's Sa…

Ethics Commissions & Administration February 23, 2009

Citizens and the Advisory Opinion Process

I've always felt torn with respect to whether citizens should be allowed to ask for advisory opinions that have to do with local government officials, as can be seen in the advisory opinion provision and comments in the City Ethics Model Code Project. On the one hand, advisory opinions are generall…

Resources & Learning February 22, 2009

A New, Improved Local Government Ethics Treasure Trove

What could provide a better education for local government ethics practitioners than reading through a greatly expanded 261-page list of all the cases the New York City Conflicts of Interest Board has decided or settled from 1992 through last week? The ethics provisions may not be the same as every…

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